Regulatory and security burdens are no longer the barriers to cloud adoption that they used to be for the financial sector – and vertical software as a service (SaaS) is now making the leap a true no-brainer.

The digital economy has created so many opportunities. So much has changed in such a short period of time; just five years ago, the notion of cloud services being used in business would have been an utterly alien concept. Now, it’s well on the way to gaining...

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced it has signed a criminal justice information services (CJIS) agreement with the State of Oregon, enabling AWS GovCloud services available to the state’s law enforcement officers.

Oregon joins California, Colorado, and Minnesota among others in signing up to AWS’s cloud services. The provider has two availability zones in its US GovCloud data centre.

“We are committed to doing our part as a cloud service provider by giving...

The headlong stampede of enterprise data into the cloud has passed by.

A few years ago I might have written it was ‘underway,’ but this would grossly understate the situation. Data which was once stored on premise has left the building, the twinkling lights on the tin box in your racks are slowly blinking out. Data osmosis is taking place, draining life force from these antiquated shells into vast data-centres run by some of the largest companies on earth. It...

Around 30% of UK adults use cloud storage in a personal capacity, according to a report released today by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – but the governing body notes concerns over some vendor practices which conflict with consumer law.

The report, which can be found in full here at a whopping 218 pages, shares concerns, such as companies being able to...

As momentum builds behind public cloud infrastructure solutions, even highly regulated industries like financial services are exploring their options. While regulations and security are often seen as stumbling blocks for public cloud acceptance in financial services, reviewing available information on U.S. regulatory guidance and privacy law suggests there may be ways to move into...

Tony Baer, Principal Analyst, Software – Enterprise SolutionsIBM’s latest Big Data enhancements for its InfoSphere integration and governance product portfolio promote an emerging approach to reconcile Big Data with master data management (MDM). IBM’s official terminology is “building confidence” in Big Data. The innovation is a probabilistic approach based on the idea that when ensuring the validity and sanctity of Big Data, “perfect is the enemy of good.” This is very much in line...

NASA’s roadmap towards utilising cloud computing needs a serious rethink, according to an official report from the space agency’s Office of Audits (OA).

In a 38-page report, the OA criticises NASA’s cloud strategy in terms of governance, risk management and security, concluding that “weaknesses...impeded the agency from fully realising the benefits of cloud computing and potentially placed at risk its information stored in the cloud.”

The after-effects of PRISM means that companies are much less likely to use US-based cloud service providers (CSPs), according to a survey from the Cloud Security Alliance.

56% were less likely to use US-based providers, with one in 10 going as far to say that they’d cancelled a project which used US CSPs as a result. Only 3%, interestingly, said their confidence in US vendors had increased.

It’s noticeable that, from the vendors’ perspective, their confidence had not been diminished. 64%...

As all eyes were on Australia in the Asia Pacific cloud computing space, New Zealand has taken a similar leap through the Institute of IT Professionals NZ (IITP) and published an updated cloud policy, called the Cloud Code.

The v2.0, released today, has two key agreements for all potential signatories: no cloud washing, and upfront disclosure of cloud products and services.

New Zealand’s cloudy code of practice was first developed in 2011, in partnership with the major CSPs, so it could be argued that...

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